Title

The CA-TSS NEWPHRASE and PPSCHAR Control Options must be properly set. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037, SRG-OS-000070-GPOS-00038

Check Content

From the ISPF Command Shell enter: TSS MODIFY STATUS If the NEWPHRASE Control Option conforms to the following requirements, this is not a finding. MA=1-32 MN=1-32 ID MAX=100 MIN=15-100 MINDAYS=1 NR=0-1 SC=1-32 WARN=1-10 If the PPSCHAR Control Option conform to the allowable list defined in CA Top Secret for z/OS Control Options Guide, this is not a finding. Note: These characters will be specified at a minimum. "40" represents the blank character. Characters can be identified by their character or hex equivalent.

Fix Text

Note: Support of mixed case passwords can only be set when the security file has been copied by TSSXTEND with the option NEWPWBLOCK. Configure the NEWPHRASE Control Option values to the following requirements: MA=1-32 MN=1-32 ID MAX=100 MIN=15-100 MINDAYS=1 NR=0-1 SC=1-32 WARN=1-10 Configure the PPSCHAR Control Option to the allowable list defined in CA Top Secret for z/OS User Guide. Note: These characters will be specified at a minimum. "40" represents the blank character. Characters can be identified by their character or hex equivalent. Example: TSS MODIFY NEWPHRASE(MA=1,MN=1,ID,MAX=100,MIN=15,MINDAYS=1,NR=1,SC=1,WARN=10) TSS MODIFY PPSCHAR(c,c,c,c,...) (Use the allowable list defined in CA Top Secret for z/OS Control Options Guide.)

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-223885r998486_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-223885

Group Title: SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.